Worcester County jail now has separate unit for 17-year-olds - Gate House

By John J. Monahan, TELEGRAM & GAZETTE

August 27. 2013 3:34PM

Worcester County jail now has separate unit for 17-year-olds

WEST BOYLSTON — Until last week, 17-year-old boys sentenced to the Worcester County Jail and House of Correction were sleeping, eating and working off their time mixed in with the general population of adult inmates in the prison.

But nearly a decade after Congress passed a law banning that practice, federal compliance deadlines came into effect this summer. As of Aug. 19, juveniles in the Worcester Country jail are being housed in a separate unit.

The change in practice, required by the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2004 — because juveniles were seen as frequent victims of sexual assault and abuse among adult populations — is but one change in a broader effort underway to end the widespread practice of treating 17-year-old juveniles as adult criminals.

State legislation backed by the governor and now awaiting final enactment in the House and Senate also would end the decades-old and common practice across the state of charging 17-year-olds as adults in criminal courts in Massachusetts and jailing them in adult jails.

For decades, hundreds of 17-year-olds have been held in adult jails in the state, awaiting trial. Those facing sentences are sent to adult jails.

If enacted, the new law would prohibit the practice of charging 17-year-olds as adults, except in murder cases, and would require that 17-year-olds be incarcerated in state youth detention centers.

Advocates for the new law say they can be required to go to school, participate in substance abuse programs, and have access to a range of support programs at DYS facilities not available in adult jails. Another major change would require law enforcement to notify parents when 17-year-olds are charged with crimes, which is not required now.

The House approved the bill on a 152-0 vote May 22, and the Senate approved its version of the legislation with a unanimous vote July 31.

Most recently, the House did not agree to the Senate version, declining to concur during an informal session, which will send the two versions to a joint House-Senate conference committee to hammer out differences.

Worcester County Sheriff Lewis G. Evangelidis said the federal government provided no funds to the jail to meet the mandate to separate juveniles from the adult population. So using their own funds and in-house staff, an old infirmary building at the jail complex was rehabbed and retrofitted to create a locked juvenile jail unit.

"We were in compliance with the PREA rules within the timeline provided by the federal government," he said of the new unit, which now holds the four 17-year-olds who are incarcerated at the jail.

"We had to create an entire new environment for them, to have security for them and have officers assigned to them, without any funding by the way, which was a challenge for us," the sheriff said. "We had to use an old infirmary and retrofit the entire place and set it up as a separate isolated area," for juveniles, he said.

That work involved installing tables and a shower, a bunk bed area enclosed with bars, an upgraded air heat and cooling system and security cameras.

"Obviously we were creating a jail cell out of it, so we had to put in bars," he said.

"It looks pretty good. We did almost all of it in-house and, starting last Monday, we made the official changeover," the sheriff said of completing the changes.

He is among many in law enforcement supporting the change in juvenile charging and incarceration. The sheriff said the pending legislation will eliminate the need for the separate juvenile unit in the jail, because the new law, if enacted, will transfer 17-year-olds in custody to state Division of Youth Services facilities.

He said some 17-year-olds do better than others in adult jails, noting some are not mature enough at that age to handle adult jails.

"There are 17-year-olds in this facility that look like they are 15 years old and seem overwhelmed, and there are 17-year-olds that look like full-grown adults. Seventeen can be a very different age for someone in terms of maturity level," Mr. Evangelidis said.

Asked whether rape has been a problem for inmates at the Worcester County jail, he said, "Certainly not. We were doing everything in our power before PREA to prevent that from happening."

The sheriff said many 17-year-olds will be better off at DYS facilities for other reasons.

"They are young and at an impressionable age and the more time they spend with older, harder criminals, the more likely they are to learn tricks of their trade," he said.

State Rep. Kay Khan, D-Newton, a former psychiatric nurse who filed the legislation, said legislators are working out differences in the two versions of the bill, and she expects it will get to the governor's desk soon.

She said one reason the bill has gained broad support is there is a recognition that young people's brains develop more slowly than once thought, increasing chances they can be diverted from criminal activity after they make mistakes early in life.

"We have a better understanding of how young people's brain development is slower, and we know that we can work with them," to put them on a different path in life, she said.

State Rep. James J. O'Day, D-West Boylston, who argued for the bill on the House floor, said he wants to see the differences resolved quickly, noting that additional federal funding available this fall, is contingent on enactment of the bill.

"I hope this can get resolved before the end of September," he said.

"Putting 17-year-olds with 17-year-olds will better the chances of turning their lives around," Mr. O'Day said, in advocating passage of the bill. "This bill does not change the law allowing 17-year-olds to be charged with murder. It does deal with less serious crimes. These people are being tried and housed as adults to the benefit of no one," Mr. O'Day said, adding, "Youths in the adult system are more likely to reoffend."

He said the change will also allow parents to be notified of charges against their children, which he said he views as a very important element of the bill.